History has its own life, it is like a person, both easy-going and self-respecting. ——Yu Qiuyu
During the period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Soviet Union sold a large number of weapons to our volunteer army, but it made General Manager Peng very angry.
Churchill once said: "There is no eternal friendship between countries, only eternal interests." Although this sentence looks very ironic, it does truly reflect the diplomatic policy of various countries in the world. Historically, the United States has aided the Nationalist government, provided steel and oil to Japan, and helped South Korea attack North Korea, and as a hegemonic country, the United States certainly did not selflessly support, but participated in these international disputes for its own benefit.
In fact, not only the United States, but also the Soviet Union, which we have always called "Big Brother," has not always selflessly supported our country; during the Period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Soviet Union sold a large number of weapons to our volunteer army, but it made Mr. Peng very angry.
At the beginning of the outbreak of the Korean War, the United States, as the world's first military power, supported South Korea in attacking Korea, and our volunteer army, under the leadership of General Peng, rushed to the battlefield to support Korea, and after three years of arduous struggle, drove the US troops back to the 38th Line, so that they had to sign an armistice agreement, so as to win the final victory in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. At that time, the weapons and equipment of the US army were ahead of the world and had an absolute superiority on the battlefield, and the reason why our volunteer army was able to achieve the final victory was not only its heroic fighting spirit of not being afraid of sacrifice and the meticulous and detailed battle plan, the most crucial point was also due to the weapons and equipment provided to us by the Soviet Union, but many people did not know how much pressure these weapons caused to me at that time, let alone what kind of process this batch of weapons went through when they were transported to Korea.
Before entering the DPRK, our country was well aware of the gap between its own strength and the US army, so it sought support from the Soviet Union, and Stalin promised to send 16 regiments of jet volunteer air force and weapons and equipment for 20 divisions, but when we stepped into the 38th line to prepare for acceptance, the Soviet Union temporarily changed its mind, refused to send reinforcements and delayed the delivery of equipment, which made our army in a very passive situation. Analyzing the world environment at that time, Stalin was afraid that the Soviet Air Force would offend the United States by participating in the war, but our country had entered the Korean battlefield, whether to protect our territory from infringement or out of humanitarian spirit, we had to increase our troops to support Korea.
It was only after we defeated the American aircraft cannons with the backward Millet Plus rifle that the Soviet Union saw sweet help in it. But the Soviets offered us the weapons they had left over from World War II, and the prices quoted were high. Before that, the weapons and equipment used in our country were from different countries in the world during the War of Resistance Against Japan, and Germany, Japan, the United States, Britain and other various weapons made China's weapons known as the "Card of Nations".
These different types of weapons have caused great difficulties in the logistical supply and maintenance of our troops, and it is even more difficult to achieve unity in training operations, and it is likely that there will be cases in which fighters are not familiar with the use of weapons and delay fighters.
Therefore, even if the Soviet Union eliminated weapons, it was still very important to us who participated in the Korean War at that time. Because although these weapons are old, they have been tested by war, and these weapons and equipment also play an important role in resisting the military strikes of the US military. The infantry weapons, artillery, aircraft, etc. donated and sold by the Soviet Union to China are of great significance to China's transformation of modern arms, and have also played a decisive role in China's victory on the Korean battlefield, enabling China to achieve a major breakthrough in militarization construction in a few years.
However, our country was also saddled with heavy debts, China was able to help Korea out of internationalist obligations, but the weapons provided to us by the Soviet Union had to be sold at a price, and Stalin proposed to sell weapons to our country at a 50% discount for the sake of superficial politeness, because at that time our country had just recovered from the war, and it was difficult to come up with enough foreign exchange gold for a while, so finally paid an annual interest of one percent in the form of a loan to settle the arrears. This arms debt has been repaid by our country for ten years as soon as it is repaid.
In addition to the support of this arms aid, the follow-up support provided by the Soviet Union to China's industrial economic development and other aspects are also clearly marked, that year, China and the Soviet Union signed a treaty of friendship, alliance and mutual assistance, the Soviet Union provided a loan of three hundred million US dollars to China to purchase machinery and other materials, requiring China to use 14 years of tungsten, antimony, lead, tin, etc. to repay debts, of which the first four years were barter, and the last ten years were to repay the supply of loans, which was obviously some difficulties for China's national strength at that time. Later, through the mediation of Premier Zhou, the Soviet Union agreed to exempt lead and reduce the supply of tin and antimony, but because of the arrogance of the Soviet Union before that, our leaders added "In view of the difficult situation of the Soviet Union's lack of strategic raw materials" at the beginning of the agreement to express our dissatisfaction.
From this we can see that even the so-called "big brother" of the Soviet Union was not completely selfless in helping our country, and even with some utilitarianism, which is why when General Manager Peng later presided over the daily work of the Central Military Commission, he reviewed the relevant documents and saw similar words about the Soviet Union's "selfless assistance in proletarian internationalism friendship and expressed heartfelt thanks" and crossed out the word "selfless" when he saw similar words.